His Worst Nightmare
by Ms.K216
Summary: Mako has a bad dream and Bolin is there to comfort his older brother.


_We were standing there. My little brother was crying hysterically and I was just in a stunned silence as I looked up at the firebender who'd just taken our parents away from us. _

"_Why did you do that!" I yelled at him, shooting a pathetic little fireball his way, he dodged it easily. _

"_You better calm down there Sparky." He laughed menacingly at me, crossing his arms smugly. _

"_They were our mom and dad! They would've given you anything you wanted! Food, money, anything!" My brother's sobs were getting louder, I looked back to see Bolin shaking my mother's lifeless body, trying to wake her up. _

"_Mama! Mama, wake up! Daddy!" Bolin screamed. My heart broke. _

"_Bo, it's okay. I'm here." I turned my back on the criminal and held my brother close. "Shh, it's going to be okay. I promise I won't let anything happen to you." _

"_What's a stupid little kid like you going to do to protect him?" The firebender laughed and I let Bolin go. _

"_Leave us alone! Haven't you already taken enough from us." I threw another fireball at him, singeing his hair a little bit. I frowned when I saw how angry it made him. _

"_Not yet!" He shoved me to the ground and closed the distance separating him from my brother in seconds. He lit a flame in his hand and threw a massive fireball at the defenseless little boy. There was nothing I could do, I'd be too late. Little Bolin's screams turned into my own as sat bolt upright in bed. _

"Mako!?" Bolin sat up in his bed a few feet away from mine. We were both safe in our apartment. My brother was fine. It had only been a bad dream. "Mako?" Bolin repeated.

"Bo…" I looked over at him but I couldn't shake the image of him dead out of my head.

"What's wrong?" He got out of bed and came to sit with me, Pabu followed and climbed up onto my shoulders.

"Nothing. I'm sorry I woke you up." I took a deep breath, but I couldn't look at him. Bolin rested his hand on my knee.

"Mako, it can't be nothing. You're crying, you never cry." I frowned, bringing my hand up to wipe my eyes, I hadn't even noticed the tears.

"It was just a bad dream, bro." I looked up at him, his green eyes pierced my amber ones, he wasn't going to let this go.

"What dream could have been so bad that you woke up in the middle of the night screaming? You can tell me Mako, I won't make fun of you." His eyes searched mine for a clue, I reached up and patted the fire ferret that had fallen asleep around my neck.

"It was about the night mom and dad were killed." I looked away from his face, patting Pabu so I could try and get through the story without making a bigger fool of myself tonight.

"Oh, Mako. It's okay…" Bolin started to console me but I cut him off.

"The firebender killed mom and dad and you were crying. I was angry at him for what he did to us, to our family, so I started yelling and threw a fireball at him. You were confused and kept trying to wake mom and dad up, I tried comforting you but the firebender started running his mouth again. I was really losing my patience and singed his hair with a fireball. To teach me a lesson he…" I choked on the words, they tasted like ash in my mouth. "He killed you Bolin. He pushed me on the ground and I couldn't get up fast enough to save you! He killed you right in front of me! You were gone Bo! You were gone and there wasn't a thing I could do about it!" I was crying again, and apparently I'd woken our little pet up again because he made a 'skree' noise in my face and ran out of the room.

"Mako, it's okay. I'm right here." Bolin pulled me close to him, I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight.

"I… I'm sorry Bo." I took a few deep breaths, trying to regain composure.

"Don't worry about it. You've helped me through quite a few nightmares over the years. I just want you to know that your bad dream was just that, a dream. When mom and dad died you weren't trying to fight with that firebender afterwards, you were too busy trying to make sure I didn't get hurt."

"You remember that?" I pulled back a little and looked at his face.

"I remember everything that you did for me when we were kids… everything that you still do for me. Thank you for being a good big brother." He smiled at me. I wiped my tears away and smiled back.

"You're welcome. Thanks for being a good little brother."

"No problem, now try to go back to sleep." He stood up and went back over to his own bed. I layed back down and fixed the covers around me. I closed my eyes, but all I could see was my worst nightmare replaying over and over in my head. After a few minutes I opened my eyes and sighed, rolling onto my side. I felt stupid to ask, but I was hoping he might let me sleep with him tonight.

"Bo?" I didn't even have to say anything else, my brother slid over in his bed making room for me. He held the blankets open for me without even opening his eyes.

"Bring your own pillow."


End file.
